Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Upgraded to Buy by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Seagate Technology from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Seagate Technology from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Seagate Technology from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Seagate Technology from $119.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Seagate Technology has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $115.94.

Seagate Technology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STX opened at $109.29 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $102.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.24. The stock has a market cap of $23.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -84.72 and a beta of 1.04. Seagate Technology has a 12 month low of $64.12 and a 12 month high of $113.57.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The data storage provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. Seagate Technology had a net margin of 5.11% and a negative return on equity of 8.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.29) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Seagate Technology will post 6.72 EPS for the current year.

Seagate Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently -217.05%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 10,117 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total transaction of $1,112,870.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $592,570. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Ban Seng Teh sold 10,117 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total transaction of $1,112,870.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $592,570. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Yolanda Lee Conyers sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.10, for a total transaction of $72,075.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $291,567.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 223,284 shares of company stock valued at $23,800,887. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Seagate Technology by 124.3% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 680,456 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $58,091,000 after buying an additional 377,148 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Seagate Technology during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,183,000. Clear Street Markets LLC lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 150.0% in the 4th quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in Seagate Technology by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 4,517 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $386,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its holdings in shares of Seagate Technology by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,833 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Seagate Technology Company Profile

Seagate Technology Holdings plc provides data storage technology and solutions in Singapore, the United States, the Netherlands, and internationally. It provides mass capacity storage products, including enterprise nearline hard disk drives (HDDs), enterprise nearline solid state drives (SSDs), enterprise nearline systems, video and image HDDs, and network-attached storage drives.